


Il était une fois...

by Nemainofthewater



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Family, Gen, RipFic, references to Aladdin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:08:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26023960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemainofthewater/pseuds/Nemainofthewater
Summary: After Time Pirates invade the Waverider, Rip must find Gideon.
Relationships: Gideon & Rip Hunter
Comments: 8
Kudos: 8





	Il était une fois...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IncendiaGlacies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncendiaGlacies/gifts).



> Happy birthday to you, IncendiaGlacies! I hope that you have a good day, and a good year. You are a wonderful person and I am so glad that I am friends with you!

_“She’s not here.”_

_“What?”_

_“Gideon! She’s not here. Those Time Pirates must have done something-”_

_“What do you mean that she’s not here? The lights are on, the Waverider is responding perfectly-”_

_“I mean, Mr Jackson, that Gideon isn’t here. The automatic functions are still, well, functioning but Gideon is not the one running them. Bollocks!”_

_“Captain- slow down Rip, panicking isn’t going to help-”_

_“I’m not panicking. I’m thinking! There’s a difference-”_

_“Not that I can see, English. All that pacing that you’re doing sure looks like panicking to me.”_

_“Well, luckily for me, Mr Rory, I don’t particularly care to hear your opinion at the moment!... No, I apologise, that was rude of me. Perhaps I am somewhat panicked. You must understand, I cannot lose Gideon. She is absolutely essential, not only to the day to day running of the ship but to, well, to me.”_

_“She’s your family. I get it.”_

_“…yes. She is, Mr Palmer. And I cannot bear to lose another member.”_

_“Then we’ll help.”_

_“Thank you. I-”_

_“Rip! Rip, man, come over here and look at this! I think I’ve found Gideon!”_

_“Yes. Yes, that’s her. I’d recognise her anywhere. Good job, Mr Jackson. Jax.”_

_“It’s strange… It doesn’t look like she’s active, but she’s not dormant either. She’s drawing a steady stream of energy, siphoned from several source… I don’t know what she’s doing, but-”_

_“I know what she’s doing. Thank you for your help Jax, you are truly indispensable. If you need me, I’ll be in my quarters. Please don’t disturb me for at least 24 hours.”_

_“Rip-”_

_“Captain-”_

_“I’ll be entering into a neural interface with the Waverider; don’t touch me and above all don’t try to wake me. Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to go and get Gideon back.”_

_#_

Rip opened his eyes. He stared out into a desert city. Then squinted and turned his head to the side and it shimmered and merged into something that could ancient China, or at least a representation of ancient China that a 10-year old boy might have come up with.

One specific boy, that was, and Rip smiled thinking of him. Jonas. His son. Who had loved he fairy tales that his parents had read to him in their London home, and had been ecstatic every time he got to visit his Aunty Gigi who would spend hours building fantastical worlds with him on the Waverider.

He stepped back and consciously relaxed his mind, allowing the simulation to flow through him without being interrupted by anything as tawdry as past experience or logical thought. The countryside settled and relaxed into a strange amalgamation of China and the Middle East, camels swaying their way between sand coloured buildings.

Glancing down at himself, he could see that instead of his beloved duster he was now wearing a long tan over robe over silk tunic and loose trousers. There was a familiar weight on his head; a turban.

“Better,” he said to himself. “Now to find Gideon.”

#

Finding Gideon, it seemed, was a matter of wandering around the streets of the unnamed city and waiting for something to happen. The law of contrived coincidences that governed this simulation would never allow for anything otherwise; Jonas had been a very impatient child.

So Rip wandered, browsing through the market stalls and laughing to himself at the vendors whose wares seemed to be composed entirely of chocolate, or who would try to entice him with small, beautifully carved models of the Waverider.

Children, of varying levels of cleanliness, ran wild on those streets; laughing and playing and with no sign of any accompanying adults. They filched fruits and sweets whenever it took their fancy, with the worst consequences for being caught a loud admonishment. Rip, _Michael,_ knew that living on the streets was nothing like this- it was full of danger and starvation and desperation- but he couldn’t help but smile alongside them, internally cheering whenever one of them made an especially athletic and daring escape.

Jonas hadn’t known the realities of living a life on the streets, and that was the something that could still be celebrated. Despite everything.

“Sir!” a cheerful voice called out, “I can see that you’re a man of good taste sir, though it seems that you are woefully underdressed; perhaps I can help with that?”

A smile stretched across Rip’s face.

“Underdressed?” he said, spinning around on his heel to face Gideon, who was manning her own stall, one that sold tiny animals made out of chocolate and not, as her words suggested, apparel of any kind. “I’ll have you know that my son made these clothes for me.”

And then he rushed forward and swept Gideon into his arms, burying his face her hair. She laughed at him and, taking full advantage of her corporeal form, clung back.

“The Time Pirates?” she asked without moving, her voice muffled in his coat.

“Gone,” Rip said. “Fled, like the cowards they are. I’m so sorry, dearest Gideon, that we couldn’t- that I couldn’t reach you earlier-”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Gideon said, drawing back slightly. “I know that you came for me as quickly as you could. I merely activated the Jonas Protocol so that the Pirates wouldn’t know that there was a fully functional AI on board, not out of any mistrust or lack of faith in you. You would never abandon me, captain; we both know it. It’s just not who you are.” She frowned. “Not unless you thought you were protecting me by going off on a half-arsed plan in a burst if self-sacrificial idiocy,” she amended. “Then I would have to stop you before you could sneak off and remind you that we work best as a team.”

“Ah, Gideon,” he said, unwilling, and very probably unable, to counter her points, “it is a good thing that I have you to keep me humble.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Captain.”

They stood there for one minute longer, and then Rip stepped back.

“We had better be going,” he said. “I left the Legends unattended, and I’m not sure whether there will be a ship, or indeed a timeline, to get back to once we wake.”

“We should get back,” Gideon agreed, “but-”

She drew the last word out, and Rip narrowed his eyes at her.

“But what?”

“But Miranda is about to steal from that fruit merchant-” Gideon pointed at a particularly sour looking woman who bore more than a passing resemblance to Jonas’ Year 2 teacher, “and Jonas is going to save her in a feat of daring and acrobatics. I thought that we could sit here, and eat my wares, and watch them for a while.”

Rip swallowed. Looked at Gideon, who was staring back at him with calm understanding.

“Yes,” he said. “That would be lovely.”


End file.
